The famous Fitnessista has started a tradition of having Indian food on Wednesday’s and I wish that I could participate more but as much as I love Indian food and cooking it, it can be daunting. Oh and going out for Indian in Burlington is well….not great.
Last night however I decided that I would try out some Indian Sampler spices that I received from Juliet Mae.
I love that these spice mixes are so easy to use and are much more convenient than having to purchase all of the individual spices that I may or may not use in other dishes. I also love that they have recipes on the back of them which are easily adaptable to my vegan diet. Tonight I used the Tandoori and the Classic Curry Blend for dinner.
I made Tandoori Tofu- the recipe was right on the back of the spice packet; I subbed lite coconut milk for yogurt and light firm tofu for the chicken and I marinated it and then baked it in the oven- so good. For the potatoes and onions I kept it simple and just tossed the potatoes and onions with the curry powder, salt and a little oil and baked at 400F for 40 minutes. On the side we had red wine and garlic broccoli.
Since I loved this Indian Sampler I decided to add it to my OpenSky shop and I hope that you are inspired to try it yourself! Buy Now
I have always been a lunch or dinner gal not into those breakfast foods and especially since going vegan when breakfast can sometimes be more challenging (or time consuming) to figure out.
And then I met…..chia seeds (Buy Now). oatmeal. and nutbutter. Now of course I liked these things on their own and in other forms but once these all united I saw the light and fell in love.
Tuesday Breakfast: Whole Wheat Waffles with Coconut Peanut Butter, Bananas, Chia Seeds, Oats, Goji Berries and a little Agave Drizzle
The Hubz and I are “beer aficionados” or at least we like to think we are (more the Hubz than me) ….if you aren’t laughing you should be. Anyways we really do love beer especially really good craft beer; we are lucky to live in Vermont where there are tons of craft breweries. Anyways so as many of you may have seen me tweeting the Hubz and I had a mini beer tasting on Monday night. So we rated the beers based on what we liked the best (5 being best and 1 being worst), however below is the order we drank them in:
Victory Storm King Stout- 3.5- great flavor and hoppyness which I love
Long Trail Harvest-2 this was just okay.
Dogfish Head Punkin Ale-4-loved this! it was not too sweet like some pumpkin beers are; it had great spice and overall flavor we will be purchasing this again!
Sierra Nevada Tumbler-3-this was alright but not my favorite, not my least favorite either.
We enjoyed the Sierra Nevada Tumbler with Squash and White Bean Soup & Sour Dough Bread - p.s. if you are interested in being a tester for my soup e-book e-mail me! More details soon!
Southern Tier Harvest (my favorite)- 5! This beer was delicious! A great fall beer with lots of hops!
Victory Festbier-1.5-this beer was pretty much a fail. Very boring and little flavor.
While we ate, drank and were merry the fur baby did this:
Calling all Soup Lovers! If you love soup as much as I do than this just might be the thing for you. I am looking for 15-17 people to participate in testing recipes for my new Soup Recipe E-Book. If you would like to learn more about being a tester please e-mail me at lindsay [at] cookingforaveganlover [dot] com.
Over the past few months I have been using my GlassDharma straws all the time and have added them to my OpenSky shop for you to get your own set. These straws are great and so easy to clean and are eco-friendly. Below is a little Q&A for the people at GlassDharama. Enjoy!
1. Why did you decide to partner up with OpenSky?
GlassDharma’s publicity began with Bloggers! Blog reviews of GlassDharma products brought about an appropriate forum. Not only to get the word out about a new idea (Glass Straws) but also to present the forward thinking that goes along with the creation of our products.
When Open Sky made it’s debut, Glass Dharma staff recognized an organization that could easily unite bloggers and product manufacturers in a way that gave bloggers opportunities for store fronts. After all, the bloggers promote the products, so why not sell to their own followings as well & increase their profits?
2. What is the inspiration behind GlassDharma?
GlassDharma has a mission – the power of a spiraling thought process goes with each product that leaves our manufacturing facility.
The thought process? REUSE!
Reuse it and you don’t have to throw it “away”.
Reuse it and you won’t have to “recycle” it.
Reuse and just say “no” to single use plastics.
Choosing a reusable straw is a small and simple act, but the decision leads to more decisions about much bigger things….
David Leonhardt, owner and founder, focuses his hard work and determination into creating quality products that have an impact on health and environmental issues. While caring for his customers with the highest level of integrity, David creates a product that benefits other people like himself and the quality of our world. His vision to create his own line of glass drinking straws stems from his 12 years of experience as a Lamp-worker.
In addition to becoming a part of the “green” movement with his product and his packaging, David also loves the elegance of glass.
GlassDharma is the result of a life long pursuit to follow “dharma” – that which upholds and supports the proper conduct of living.
3. Which is your favorite straw and why?
“I use every style and size of GlassDharma straws but my most used are the 10inch 9.5mm because I drink Iced Tea every day. At home I use tall Iced Tea glasses and on the go I use tall glass bottles. The 10 inch are the perfect size for both.
Every day I drink a fruit & veggie smoothie for breakfast and I always reach for a 12mm “smoothie size” Beautiful Bends Glass Straw.
Serving guests? The Decorative Dots are the favorite and the different colors help with drink identification.”
-Cheryl Newcomb (PR& Marketing Department at GlassDharma)
4. What are the benefits of GlassDharma straws?
There is the benefit of taste & feel when you use glass straws, the elegance of the fire polished glass…
The glass maintains a more constant temperature in both hot and cold beverages, there is not the condensation buildup and sweating that often occurs with stainless steel and aluminum straws.
The very best benefit is to reduce the need for single use plastics because of what plastic waste is doing to our Planet
5. How durable are GlassDharma straws?
GlassDharma Glass Straws are manufactured using a special annealing method:
6. Lastly, I see that you are involved in fundraising as well, could you tell me more about this?
GlassDharma knows that the giving back reaches far beyond the manufacturing of a product that is environmentally friendly.
There are many worthwhile causes in our world and GlassDharma would like to provide platforms and opportunities for Fundraising by providing a user-friendly Fundraising Package of our products to allow profits from sales to be used for worthy causes.
The Hubz and I headed downtown after dinner to relax and enjoy the nice weather. We talked about going to Stogo for vegan ice cream, but got a little lost, so we decided to try Lula’s Sweet Apothecary . I really wanted a sundae but didn’t think I could eat one on my own and the Hubz just didn’t feel it. I asked one of the staff members which flavor was her favorite and she said she really liked the lemon and chocolate fudge brownie, but her favorite was the soft-serve twist (cake batter & chocolate). After tasting a few of the hand-packed ice creams, I decided to go with the soft serve twist and the Hubz went with butterscotch.
Both of our choices were really good, but honestly, I enjoy Stogo’s ice cream more. However, Lula’s was a fun little place that had soft serve which made me happy as I have been wanting some for years.
Important: In order for you to use the coupon code and only when one of the netbook or laptop sleeves is added to the basket, will you be able to use the coupon code.
The coupon codes FREESLEEVE (for the U.S.) or CADFREESLEEVE (for Canada) are valid from September 6th through October 1st, 2010.
I love that these spice mixes are so easy to use and are much more convenient than having to purchase all of the individual spices that I may or may not use in other dishes. I also love that they have recipes on the back of them which are easily adaptable to my vegan diet. Tonight I used the Tandoori and the Classic Curry Blend for dinner.
